: "Becoming a Nation," organized by the Trust for Museum
Exhibitions and currently in the midst of an eight-city national
tour, puts on public view 170 objects that represent the cream of
the Americana collection from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of
the US Department of State. The complete collection of around
5,000 objects, displayed within 42 rooms on the top floor of the
department's C Street building in Washington, D.C., matches up in
quality - if not in quantity - with great institutional
collections such as those found in the American Wing at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and Winterthur.
Yet the purpose served by this assemblage in its governmental
home is quite different from that of even the greatest museum
collection. As US Secretary of State Colin Powell puts it in his
introduction to the exhibition's catalog, "The Diplomatic
Reception Rooms of the Department of State are not only cultural
treasures, they are invaluable diplomatic assets for our country.
Appointed with fine and decorative arts of the Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Centuries, they serve as the setting for hundreds of
official events every year ... Those of us who have the privilege
of entertaining in the Reception Rooms on behalf of the American
people do so with great pride."
Gail F. Serfaty, director of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms,
says, "We try to show as many wonderful objects as possible in an
entertainment situation. It's not a museum, so we can't line
things up - everything is used. Our guests, particularly foreign
visitors who are here for only a few days and don't have time to
go to museums or be entertained in the private homes of
collectors, have the opportunity while they're here on official
business to be in a museum atmosphere and see the best objects
made in America during the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth
Century."
